iSpeak Now
by UltravioletLife
Summary: Unlike most girls, Sam has never wanted her life to be like a Taylor Swift song. But when it comes to Freddie, it always is.
1. One Thing

Sam rolls her eyes for the bazillionith time that hour, not even trying to hide her annoyance. Of course, no one notices her over the roar of the crowd. Carly absently pulls at Sam's sleeve without looking at her, trying to get her to stand up. Sam pushes her away and slouches even lower in the seat. Carly and Wendy continue belting the lyrics to their favorite songs and jumping around in excitement.

"I wish my life was like a Taylor Swift song," Wendy sighs as the song ended. Carly grabs her hand and laughs.

"Who doesn't?"

"Me," Sam mutters as she pulled a fat cake out of her bag, wondering why she had let them drag her to this concert. It's not that she has anything against Taylor Swift, but all of her songs are about three things: a guy who doesn't notice her, a wonderful relationship, or a broken heart.

Carly always tells her she's being cynical, but looking at her past experience with love (pushing her first boyfriend out of a tree, anyone?), she doubts she'll ever go through something so freaking _**cute **_she just has to sing about it. When her heart is this guarded, and her love life this lacking, it's hard to believe anyone could ever break her. And while she's never had much luck turning into a frilly little girl that all the boys can gawk at, being _noticed _has never been her problem.

Sam glowers and throws the wrapper onto the floor as she starts singing again.

If there's one thing Sam knows she'll never be, it's a Taylor Swift song.

* * *

><p>I know this is boring and short, but it's just the intro and it needed to be here. The actual story will be better, hopefully.<p>

I already have some of the chapters written, so I'm hoping that I will get them up here pretty quickly.


	2. Sparks Fly

**Sparks Fly**

_Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile_

Sam looks up from her locker to look for Carly. Instead of finding her best friend, her eyes fall on another brunette. She turns back to the pile of junk pouring out of her locker with a twisted grin. A fire starts to burn inside her as she feels the nub getting closer to her, the fire that always rages when a victim is near. The details of a perfect plan to torture him fall into place in the few moments she has.

"Hey Sam," he says cheerily from beside her.

Sam looks up again to see the bright-eyed dork standing next to her, smiling like an idiot.

"What's with you?" She asks, momentarily forgetting her plan.

He waves at a group of students passing by before looking back at her. "I'm just having a good day. We did this really cool experiment in Chemistry, Briggs lit my hands on fire-"

"No way!" she exclaims without thinking. He gives her a slightly surprised look and smiles at her.

When Freddie looks at her, he's always angry: frowning, yelling, glaring. Sometimes he's laughing at her or rolling his eyes. On rare occasions he even smiles at her, but never like this. This is a real, joyful smile. This is the kind of smile reserved for Carly, and Wendy, and other little flowers.

But there it is, just for her.

Sam falters slightly at the sight, her bag slipping from her shoulder and landing on the floor with a thud. Looking at her in confusion, Freddie picks it up and hands it to her. She takes it back in some kind of daze.

"You all right?" And then his hand is on her shoulder.

The fire inside of her blazes like she's never felt before, and it's still growing. She jerks away from his hand before it gets any worse, then smacks him for good measure.

"'Course I'm all right," she mutters angrily as she storms away. She ignores his eyes following her and tries to figure out _what_ just happened.

The fire is always strongest when he's around, but that's because he's such a stupid nub. But that uncontrollable passion is still roaring, even though the dork is nowhere near her.

Sam stops suddenly in the middle of the hall when she realizes her ingenious prank completely slipped her mind.

_And you stood there in front of me,_

_just close enough to touch, _

_close enough to hope you couldn't _

_see what I was thinking of_

"Puckett," Freddie growls as he takes another step towards her. She smirks defiantly and leans closer to his face. As usual, her body is itching with the desire to cause some sort of physical pain to him.

She pulls back her fist to punch him in the gut when suddenly-

_he smirks. _

It's just the smallest ghost of a mischievous smile, but Sam stumbles mid-swing nonetheless. She trips another few inches closer to him and her arm barely meets his side in a lame excuse for a punch. Although he's nearly as confused as she is, he now shoots her the full-blown, self-satisfied smirk.

Now Sam's the one glaring, fists clenched. The urge to hurt him is killing her, she wants to knock him to the ground, punch him in the face, shove him up against the wall and kiss him senselessly, kick him in the- _**what?**_

She staggers backwards in shock, almost as if he can hear what she's thinking. The dork's smirk disappears as he steps toward her again. She shoves him as far away from her as she can muster before blindly running away.

_As the lights go down,_

_give me something that'll haunt me _

_when you're not around_

This isn't how it works. He's supposed to be terrified, not amused. He's flinching away from her before she has even raised her hand, yet he has an obnoxious smirk on his face. She takes a step even closer to him, ready to beat that smirk off of him, and it happens again:

While raising her arm to punch him, her breath catches in her throat. She doesn't feel her arm limply fall to her side. Being this close to him makes it feel like her entire body is on fire.

Sam Puckett does not feel sparks. She doesn't feel fireworks, or hear bells, or see lights, or any other cliche thing she always hears flowers like Carly talk about. What she feels is something a little like wildfire, out of control and passionate, raging across her when they touch.

Suddenly, she's the one who feels the need to run. Before she even has time to register the feeling, she punches him squarely in the jaw.

"You're dead, idiot."

A month ago, he would have fainted.

A week ago, he would have been running as fast as he could.

Now, he simply looks up from the ground at the girl who knocked him down.

That stupid smirk was still lighting up the room.

He stood up calmly to confront her again. She waits for every inch of him to be pressed against her, letting the feeling burn into her memory, before punching him in the stomach. Unsure of what would happen if they were that close again, she shoves him back to the floor and runs.

She didn't have to turn back to know he was watching her with that damn smirk.

* * *

><p>Lyrics are in italics.<p>

Each chapter is going to be based on a different Taylor Swift song. This chapter is set before iOMG and iLost My Mind happened, but the story is going to fit with those.


	3. I Lie

**I Lie**

Just as the iCarly trio is about to head out for an after-web show-smoothie, shrieks from Spencer's room stop them in their tracks.

"Hold on," Carly sighs and goes to check on him.

A moment later, Carly runs into the kitchen and starts digging through the drawers frantically. Sam and Freddie exchange a glance.

"Do you need hel-"

"No!" Carly interrupts Freddie. "Just… you guys go ahead. Bring us some… smoothies." She mutters distractedly.

"Are you sure?" Freddie asks carefully.

"Yes! Just… go!" She impatiently waves them out of the room. Freddie looks at Sam, who simply shrugs and walks out the door.

As they get into the elevator, Sam tries to ignore that disgustingly anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. She tells herself that it's just worry about whatever Spencer's done, or annoyance that she has to go to the Groovy Smoothie with a nub.

Until she meets Freddie's eyes and he smiles at her and the feeling explodes and she can't deny that she's never been so excited to go to the Groovy Smoothie.

Sam wordlessly takes the back way, knowing there will be plenty of hobos to make Freddie uncomfortable. She has to stifle a laugh every time they walk past a dirty hobo and he nervously pulls at his sleeves and takes a step closer to her.

"You think Carly's all right?" He casually asks on the way over.

"Of course you would be worried about your precious little _Carly_," Sam mocks, rolling her eyes. And maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that this was the one night where he wasn't supposed to be thinking about her.

"Actually…" Freddie hesitates, pulling at his sleeve, "I don't have a crush on her anymore."

Sam looks down and tries to steady her racing heart, forcing herself not to smile.

"So what completely out-of-your-league girl have you fallen for now?" She manages to ask mockingly.

"I think I'm done with that for now. We all know I'll never find any girl to love me." He smiles and at her and she laughs, but not for the reason he thinks.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"My two favorite little mushrooms! What'd y'all want?" T-Bo yells as the two walk into the Groovy Smoothie. Before Freddie can order, his phone starts ringing. He glances around the room before looking to Sam.

"It's Carly. It's too loud in here, I better…" he fades away as he starts walking to the front of the store. "Just make me something T-Bo," he calls distractedly as he walks outside.

_He stands there then walks away_

_My god if I could only say, _

"_I'm holding every breath for you."_

He stands beside the door, running his hands through his hair as he talks to Carly. From the way he sighs in relief and his shoulders shake in laughter, Sam can tell whatever happened with Spencer is nothing serious. Watching him laugh at something Carly says, Sam wishes she could just be honest with him for five minutes and admit that he isn't the worst human being on the planet.

Sighing, she forces herself to turn away from the stupid nub and back to the counter. "Hey! Freddie doesn't like strawberries!" Sam blurts without thinking when she sees the smoothie T-Bo is working on.

T-Bo slowly stops and gives her a dramatic look. "What does Little Freddie want then?"

"Banana Bash," she says without hesitation.

T-Bo turns back to the smoothie, muttering in frustration.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"What's Freddie like?"

Sam looks up from her phone to see an extremely excited girl standing next to her. The girl had complimented iCarly and asked for an autograph a minute ago.

"Huh?"

The girl is smiling as if her life depends on it.

"I just love-love-love your webshow! But Freddie's never on it. So what's he really like?"

Sam stares at the girl blankly for a minute before answering, wondering if she's serious.

"He's a nub." The girl giggles as if Sam's the funniest person in the world.

"No, really! Tell me _everything_ about him!" Sam ignores her as her mind flows with a million different pictures of what makes Freddie _**Freddie**_: of pearpads, and yellow fruits, and deep brown eyes, and galaxy war dolls, and Spanish words that don't make sense and-

"When's Freddie's birthday?"

She watches all of the past birthdays of his she pretended to forget, the gifts she knew he'd love but never bought, and the parties she pretended to hate flash through her brain.

"Dunno," She mumbles.

"Oh. Well… what's his favorite color?"

The dozens of shades of blue of his wardrobe and the walls of his room and his bedspread run through her mind.

"Hot pink."

"Does he have brothers? Maybe a sister?"

"God, I hope there aren't more Bensons."

The girl's smile finally falters. Thankfully, Freddie appears at the table and satisfies the screaming fan-girl. Sam starts messing with her phone and ignores the small-talk Freddie's making with the random fan.

"Fuego!" Freddie suddenly yells when he takes the first sip of his smoothie. "Banana, my favorite! How'd you know, T-Bo?" Freddie calls across the store. T-Bo shrugs.

"It's a gift, kid."

Freddie turns back to the fan, who's telling him how she watches every episode and always sends e-mails about how he should be on the show more often. "Yeah, I'm such a _**huge**_ fan of yours! I was trying to ask Sam about you, but-"

Freddie laughs. "That's pointless; Sam doesn't know anything about me!"

Sam pretends she doesn't hear them.


	4. You Belong With Me

"Doesn't she annoy you?" Carly doesn't even bother looking up from her book.

"For the last time, Sam: no, she's not annoying. She's funny. She's nice. She's cool. Why do you have such a problem with her?" There's not a hint of suspicion in her voice, but Sam squirms in her seat nonetheless.

Sam has absolutely no reason not to like her. She's nice, but not the kind of sugary sweet that makes Sam want to puke. Unlike most girls at Ridgeway, she doesn't look like the make-up section of a department store exploded on her face. She thinks Sam's funny, and makes fun of Mrs. Briggs at any opportunity. There was even a time or two where she helped Sam with one of her pranks.

Sam chomps on the chicken wing as loudly as possible, hoping to distract Carly from the fact that she isn't answering.

She could say it's because she doesn't dress like some little flower, yet boys always notice her. It could be how she can pull off anything, from blue hair and cowboy boots to sparkly skirts and high-heels. Or maybe, just maybe, it's the way Freddie watches when she flips her hair, or how Freddie smiles at her a little like the way he used to smile at Carly, or the fact that when _she's_ in trouble, he comes running.

Without looking at her, Carly casually says, "She never seemed to bother you before." And now there's the smallest trace of suspicion in her voice. Her eyes come up to meet Sam's for a moment, her eyebrows slightly raised. She doesn't say anything else. She doesn't have to.

. . . . .

_You've got a smile that _

_could light up this whole town,_

_I haven't seen it in a while _

_since she brought you down._

. . . . .

"So then I'm like, 'No Gib, it's not,' and all of a sudden he's jumping all over and screaming and I can see it turning purple and-" Freddie snorts his smoothie at the mental image.

"Wait, so did it smell yet?" He interrupts.

"No, no, the smell didn't kick in until the kool-aid, but by then-" Sam couldn't remember the last time Freddie had laughed this hard.

"Sam, I can't believe you!"

"Yeah, I amaze myself too." Freddie rolls his eyes as she steals yet another fry from him.

"Sam, promise me you'll never do that to me."

"Dork, you know Mama never repeats a prank. I'll put something **much **worse in your shower." Freddie smiles as she raises her eyebrows suggestively.

That heat-stopping smile that's become all too rare since-

Freddie's phone buzzes with a text from _Amber_. Sam waits somewhat patiently while he replies, only stealing a few more fries and a sip from his smoothie.

"Freddie, Freddie, Freddie," Sam starts with exasperation. The boy raises an eyebrow. After giving him a disappointed look for a minute she continues, "She's only dating you for your vampire voice, Nub."

Freddie hesitates before saying, "That's not true," but his voice is weak and uncertain.

"Did she ever pay attention to you before those vampire videos? Hasn't she complimented those videos, and only those videos, countless times? How many times has she asked you to do the vampire voice? Does she know anything else about you?"

And then, looking at his downcast eyes, she sees she's broken him again. All she ever does is break him.

"Listen, Nub..." She bites her lip, "I'm going to say this once. I'm only doing this because you... you know, deserve better. Believe it or not, there are some girls out there who would like you, not just your voice, or because you saved their life, or for your tech skills, or whatever. You don't have to be bacon. There's a girl out there who will like **_you._** So... stop dating the wrong ones, idiot!" She finishes, smacking his head lightly.

Freddie smiles and gently squeezes her hand before she can punch him.

"When are you going to stop ruining my relationships, Sam?" He teases.

_When it's with me._

"When will you stop dating girls for the wrong reasons?" She counters.

"When I find a girl who's willing to date me for the right reasons."

Sam raises her eyebrows. How could anyone not realize by now?

They're staring at each other with raised eyebrows when his phone goes off again with a phone call from Amber.

He glances from her to the phone and back before pressing the ignore button.

Sam does her best not to smile.


	5. Fearless

"Wait, where did Sam go?" Freddie turns around to see that Sam is no longer beside him.

Freddie groans as he glances at his watch. "We only have a few minutes before Super Eagle closes, and we have to get that prop for iCarly."

"I'll go get the prop, you go find Sam, all right?" Brad offers. Freddie nods.

"Meet you back here in a few minutes."

After checking around the concessions, Freddie finds Sam slowly walking through the lobby, her face buried in a giant vat of popcorn.

"Sam, what are you doing?" he asks. She looks up at him.

"That kid threw out his popcorn! You don't throw out good popcorn!" she gives as an answer. Freddie rolls his eyes and falls in step beside her.

"You took a stranger's food out of a trashcan," he mutters in disbelief. He rolls his eyes as she smiles obliviously.

* * *

><p>"Brad should be back in a minute," he says when they reach the parking lot. He stands quietly while she chomps away loudly on her popcorn. When she's done, she drops the bag on the sidewalk and starts to walk away.<p>

Freddie picks up the bag and throws it away for her. When he turns back to face the parking lot, Sam is slowly wading her way through the empty parking spots. Once she reaches an arbitrary point, she suddenly stops walking and spontaneously starts crazy-dancing.

"Sam?" Freddie calls in confusion, but she ignores him. He yells her name again before walking out towards her. He stops near her and watches her erratic movements to the music that's blasting from some supermarket in the distance. Almost the entire parking lot is empty, except for the newly formed puddles. The streetlight above her casts light into the water on the ground, causing a glow all around her.

As she turns toward him, her movements suddenly slow until she's almost unmoving. There's a moment where she gives him a look that almost seems like it's asking him to join her. But before he can even think about it, she's back to her unpredictable spins and jerks and not looking at him. She doesn't meet his eye again until Brad returns.

. . . .

_My hands shake, I'm not usually this way_

_but you pull me in and I'm a little more brave_

_it's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something;_

_it's fearless. _

Sam sits on the stairs of the courtyard at the lock-in, expecting Carly to come out at any moment to confront her about her _feelings_ again. The door snaps open and out walks Freddie instead. On the cold night with the moon shining down on Freddie, Sam's mind flashes back to that January night on the balcony, where she sat in the hall for an hour working up the guts to talk to him.

She sat there on the balcony, the taste of too many meatballs flooding her mouth, looking at Freddie's vulnerable eyes and she knew: if there was ever a time to kiss him, it would be now.

Sam was always the fearless one, the one who led things and always knew what was going on. When her hands started shaking and her heart started racing, she didn't know what to do. She wasn't going to be the one to start anything this time, so she looked up at him with those wide blue eyes.

"Well, lean."

And that was as fearless as she was going to get.

. . . .

She'd been teasing and beating Freddie endlessly for as long as anyone could remember, and now she was going to the movies with him and helping him with his homework. She even gave him her first kiss, but he was still completely oblivious. It was obvious that she would have to give him a much bigger hint if she ever wanted him to understand.

So, with Freddie spouting out all those nerdy cliches about love and letting him know, the old Sam took over. The Sam who beat up middle school kids in the hall for looking at her funny, and back-talked teachers like it was her job. The Sam who was fearless.

She kissed him suddenly, like her life depended on it.

When she was done, though, she ran away before he could react. Not because she was scared or anything, she just didn't want to know what his reaction would be.

. . . .

He stands in the mental institution, smiling, an air of confidence surrounding him.

And there it is, like a smack in the face.

No matter what he says, he hasn't thought about this for months, wondering how and when and is this going to work? He didn't plan out the borderline romantic conversation, the subtle actions, the things to say without ever really saying anything. This isn't the moment he's been waiting for; this is a moment he never imagined happening. He didn't plan for this moment, he's just winging it, just leaning.

He kisses her on i-freaking-Carly, where the whole internet can see his lips meet hers; they can see that her eyes are wide and she's shaking and sweating and well,

he's not.

He's fearless.

* * *

><p>I'm sorry it took me so long to upload this! I had a lot of tests and essays and I was really busy for a while, but mostly I was just lazy and had a bit of writer's block. I'm really trying to get better about not taking forever...<p>

Thanks a lot to Random Storygirl, xXxStompingOnRosesxXx, sincerely-sweet, LotsofLove234, and PhantomofthePirateJediNinjas for the lovely reviews! I really appreciate them!


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